1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to heat pumps used in heating and cooling a wide range of applications such as in buildings, refrigeration, or industrial processes for example. More specifically, this invention relates to methods to store energy in the form of a phase change in fluid whereby that energy can be passively recovered to perform and heating or cooling function with no energy input.
2. Description of Prior Invention
Heat pumps are well known and have been used for heating and cooling applications for more than 100 years. As practice today, heat pumps use a full refrigeration cycle that comprises both a compression component and an expansion component. When compared to the present system, the prior systems, when used for heating waste a capacity to cool and when used for cooling waste a capacity to heat. By contrast, the present system divides the refrigeration cycle into two separate and distinct operations such that compression only is used for cooling and expansion only is used for heating. Many benefits accrue to such a system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,868 Alden, describes a process to divide a heat-pump process into two parts and adds intermediary steps of transporting or storing refrigerant such that energy utilized to compress a refrigerant for a heating function is stored in the form of a compressed fluid to later be expanded for a cooling function.